Khaled Nordin leads high-level trade mission to China

SHANGHAI: Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin is leading a high-level trade and investment mission in conjunction with his four-day official visit to the Chinese financial capital.

Highlights of the trade mission include a meeting tomorrow with more than 20 Chinese captains of industry, all of which who are expected to set up base in Johor as a gateway to enter the Southeast Asian market.

The mission will also firm up an agreement between the Johor government and a Chinese waste management company to bring its waste-to-energy technology to a facility in Johor.

Khaled is also leading talks in Malaysia's first foray into robotics technology, which will done with the help of Chinese expertise.

Among the delegation members in the trade mission are the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, who is the JCorp deputy chairman; Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) chief executive officer Datuk Azman Mahmud; and Johor Corporation president and chief executive Datuk Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim.

Kamaruzzaman said the trade mission will also firm up an agreement for Chinese textile manufacturing giant, D&Y to expand its existing operations Sedenak, Johor.

"As a state conglomerate, we will continue to attract investors to choose Johor with MIDA.

"In this effort, we chose sectors which are promoted by the government to obtain a big impact for the country's economy, either to boost the country's exports or to provide job and various business opportunities in Malaysia," said Kamaruzzaman today.

In 2016, Johor brought in about RM26.4 billion worth of investments, which created 8,587 jobs.

Out of the RM26.4 billion in investments, RM695.7 million of it came from Chinese companies with potential employments for 985 people.